Recovery crews at the site of Thursday's Cougar helicopter crash off the coast of Newfoundland recovered one body today from the wreckage at the sea bottom.

Mike Cunningham, lead investigator with the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) told a news briefing this afternoon that they were able to see about 10-13 bodies in the fuselage which is resting on its side between 400-500 feet below the surface.

Rescue crews will be working throughout the day trying to carefully remove the bodies. 

That's a change in direction from Saturday when the TSB said it would try to bring the fuselage, and any bodies in it to the surface. However, upon observations by two remotely controlled vehicles (ROVs), rescue crews fear the fuselage may not stay intact, thus the decision was made to try to carefully remove bodies before attempting to retrieve the wreckage.

The downed Cougar helicopter had been taking workers to offshore oil platforms — Hibernia and SeaRose — Thursday morning when the pilot radioed he was turning back after he lost oil pressure in the helicopter’s gearbox. A short time later a mayday was received and the pilot indicated he was going to ditch the helicopter in the ocean.
A Provincial Airlines flight preparing for an offshore ice reconnaissance patrol was on the scene within minutes, officials said.
The Provincial pilot reported seeing the Sikorsky chopper floating upside down in the water. The helicopter later sunk. 

There were 18 people onboard the helicopter when it went down. One man survived the crash. Robert Decker remains in hospital in St. John's recovering. 

More details later.